Universe

Modelling, trade-offs, and frameworks that cut across domains.

A catch-all section for frameworks that don’t fit neatly elsewhere — building good models, constructing 2x2 matrices, navigating impossible trinities.

If you are new here, start with Building Models (on why simplification is not a bug but the whole point of a model) and Three Binding Constraints on Tech Progress (a framework for diagnosing why a technology isn’t spreading as fast as expected). These are the most domain-agnostic frameworks on the site — useful whether you are analysing a policy problem, a business decision, or an intellectual puzzle.

Building Models
What it says The basic craft of constructing simple, useful models of complex situations.

Hal Varian’s Tips on Building an Economic Model
What it says Practical advice from a working economist on how to make a model that earns its keep.

How Social Media Expands Reference Networks
What it says The mechanism by which platforms grow whom we are constantly comparing ourselves to.

How to Build a Good 2x2 Matrix
What it says The discipline that separates a useful 2x2 from a decorative one.

Inter-State Water Sharing
What it says A working framework for thinking about transboundary water disputes.

Moralising is Central to Storytelling
What it says Why every powerful narrative carries an ethical claim — and how to read for it.

Prohibition and Morality
What it says The relationship between legal restriction and ethical claim — and why the two diverge so often.

Social Media’s Rule of Three
What it says A pattern in how attention, virality, and reaction interact on networked platforms.

The Impossible Trinity of Indian Cities
What it says Affordable housing, easy commute, and pleasant environment — pick any two.

Three Binding Constraints on Technological Progress
What it says A new technology faces three constraints in sequence — technical, economic, and policy. The binding one moves over time, and the slowest-moving determines progress.

What’s Easy & What’s Not?
What it says required for that particular intervention exists, can be built up, or is out of reach. In that sense, it is useful to know things that can be done easily and the ones that can’t, especially when there is dearth of state capacity.

Xi’s Trilemma
What it says The three-way constraint that shapes the strategic options of contemporary China.
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